


Memory Made Real

by KaytiKazoo



Series: 2020 Prompts [2]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Background Lincoln Campbell/Leo Fitz/Skye | Daisy Johnson, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Leo Fitz & Jemma Simmons Friendship, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:01:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27196870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaytiKazoo/pseuds/KaytiKazoo
Summary: Hunter comes back into Jemma's life, just not how she expected.
Relationships: Lance Hunter/Jemma Simmons
Series: 2020 Prompts [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1985246
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	Memory Made Real

**Author's Note:**

> Written for 50 Day Fic Prompt, "Close the door", posted to [my tumblr.](http://kaytikazoo.tumblr.com)

The first time Jemma saw Hunter again, he was carried into the base on a stretcher, bleeding profusely from a gunshot wound to the abdomen. Lincoln and the medics were on him first, which Jemma had never been more grateful for that. Her heart was beating fast, and she couldn’t breathe. She hadn’t seen Hunter in, in  _ years _ , not since those few weeks in Seychelles. But she’d know Hunter anywhere, even unconscious, even bloody. 

She’d memorized every part of him, kissing every inch of his skin, feeling each scar. It had been a glorious couple of weeks, laying in his embrace, walking by his side, listening to his stories. He’d been on leave, and she’d taken a well-deserved holiday. She and Fitz had been driving each other crazy with disagreements, and had decided they needed a few weeks away from each other, so she booked a tropical getaway, and the first night, she’d met Lance Hunter at the bar. 

He’d been charming, and attractive, and she was just interested enough that when he’d offered to take her back to his room, she’d agreed. She’d meant it as a one-night stand kind of thing, except in the morning, he brought her tea and breakfast, and that turned into lunch, turned into dinner, turned into three weeks of falling in love with a man she’d never see again.

Except, here he was. Bloody. Dying.

“You look like you saw a ghost,” Fitz said lightly, standing nearby long after Hunter had been taken into the medical wing for surgery. Jemma was frozen, though.

She hadn’t realized that Hunter was SHIELD, first of all. He’d been army when they’d met, she’d taken his dog tags off herself. When had he joined SHIELD?

“I kind of did,” she replied, shaking herself out of it. “Lance Hunter.”

“What about him?”

“I told you about him once, he was the guy I met in Seychelles,” she said. 

“Holy shit, really?” Fitz said. “Best sex of your life Seychelles?”

“That’s the one.”

“He’s a SHIELD agent?”

“I guess so. I swear he wasn’t back then.”

“Are you going to go see him?”

“I don’t know,” she replied. “I haven’t seen him in years, and it was just for a couple of weeks, you know.”

“Yes, but it left an impression on you if you knew his face still.”

“Of course, he made an impression. He was good, and sweet, and I’ll remind you, the best sex of my life.”

Fitz walked her through the halls.

“And?”

“And I think I fell in love with him. At least a little bit.”

“I’d say more than a little if you’re still affected by him.”

Jemma groaned and let her head fall onto Fitz’s shoulder. 

“I don’t know what to do,” she said. “Do I go see him? Do I stay away because it was three weeks years ago? I can’t expect him to remember me just because I remember him.”

“Jemma,” Fitz sighed. “He’ll remember you.”

“No, he won’t,” she said. “It’s illogical. The only reason I remember him was because I loved him, at least a little bit. I was just, I was a good lay for his leave, you know.”

“You’re more than that. And you know it.”

“Thanks, Fitz,” she said, and decided to change the subject away from her. “How are things going with you and the partners?” 

“They’re good,” he replied. “They stayed the night last night. Which was, it was really fucking nice, actually. I haven’t woken up next to anybody in a while, especially not two somebodies, you know, and it was really nice to wake up and have them right there.”

“I bet. And the morning sex must be nice.”

He laughed, and it was so open, and happy, and she’d never been so grateful to hear it. He’d been so withdrawn for so long that she thought she’d never hear him laugh again.

“God, it really is.”

He’d brought her to the medical wing, and they sat together in the chairs outside the operating room. Jemma wasn’t a surgeon, but she knew that it could take several hours, but she couldn’t think of anywhere else to be. 

“Have you told your mum yet?”

“Oh, god, no. I wouldn’t know where to begin.”

“Start with hello, and work towards I’m in a polyamorous relationship with two Inhuman SHIELD agents.”

“Hardy  har har ,” he said sarcastically. She smiled at him.

He sat by her side until Lincoln came out, eyes falling on them.

“Oh, hey,” he said. “Were you waiting for me?”

Fitz stood, and crossed to his boyfriend, pulling him into a soft kiss.

“I was. She’s waiting on your patient.”

“My patient? You know Lance Hunter?” Lincoln asked, taking Fitz’s hand. 

“From a long time ago,” she answered without going into specifics. She was sure that Fitz would tell him later if he were curious. There wasn’t a lot that Lincoln and Daisy didn’t know about her these days, since there wasn’t anything Fitz didn’t know about her. Her friendship with him was limitless, and by extension, so was her friendship with the ones he loved. “Is he okay?”

“He will be, he’s resting now. You can go in and sit with him if you’d like.”

“Thanks, Lincoln,” she said. Fitz squeezed her shoulder on her way past and she stopped to kiss his cheek. “Thanks for staying with me.”

“As if I’d be anywhere else.”

When she stepped into the room, she had to stop and take a deep, steadying breath. He was asleep still, and the only sound was the quiet beeps of his heart monitor. She almost turned around several times, and purposefully left the door open in case she needed to flee.

She sank down into the chair next to his bed, grabbing his chart from the end of the bed. Her heart couldn’t quite settle yet, and she preferred to know as much as possible. She read it through until she’d memorized it, committing to memory exactly where the bullet had entered, where Lincoln and the surgery team had extracted it, how many stitches. 

There was a noise as Hunter shifted in bed.

“Oh,” he said. She turned and set his chart down. “How’d I get here?”

“You were shot during a mission,” she said, “and you were brought back to the Playground for medical attention.”

“Right,” he said, voice a little slower, a little slurred as he woke up from sedation. “Right. Okay. And, what are you doing here?”

He was looking right at her, and she couldn’t tell if he was asking because he recognized her or because he was still confused.

“Oh,  uhm ,” she said, looking around.

“Jemma,” he said, and she looked back at him. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m a SHIELD agent,” she replied evenly. 

“No shit.”

He was pale, and there was a cannula looped over his ears, nestled into his nostrils. 

“I was when we met, too.”

“You said you were a scientist.”

“I can be both,” she said. “I used to work in  SciOps as a biochemist researcher before I was chosen for Coulson’s field team.”

He frowned at her, and she kept her face neutral while she looked over him, even while her heart beat quickly, begging her to touch him. 

“I suppose you couldn’t tell me, then,” he said. “I was actually in the army when we met, to answer your question.”

She rose her eyebrows at him.

“I knew you were going to ask. I wasn’t lying to you back then.”

“I didn’t want to lie to you, but I –” 

“I know,” he said. “I get it. I’m not, I’m not blaming you.”

He started to sit up, and she panicked.

“What are you doing? You just had major surgery.”

“Love, sitting up is not going to tear open any stitches. It’s okay. This is not my first gunshot wound.”

“Still, just be careful.”

“Are you worried about me?” 

It was her turn to frown at him.

“Of course, I am, don’t be daft.”

Hunter reached over and raised his bed so he was reclined while looking at her. 

“Daft?” He looked amused, smirking that gorgeous, infuriating smirk that she’d grown to know and love over those wonderful weeks. She still remembered it, remembered the way he’d given her that smirk right before going down on her making her see a god she didn’t believe in. “We haven’t seen each other in years, love. Just because you remember me doesn’t mean anything.”

She sighed.

“Daft,” he laughed, and then seemed to regret it as it tugged on his stitches. “Jemma, those weeks in Seychelles were fucking beautiful. They were the best weeks of my life, I think. I’ve never been that happy. But I’m not under any kind of delusion that it meant the same to you.”

“That’s an awful big assumption,” she said. “That time with you, it stuck with me, too, you know.”

“That’s not – that's not what I meant.”

“What did you mean, then?”

“I love you,” Hunter said.

“Hunter,” she started.

“I fell in love with you in that hotel room, the way you were soft, and the way you laughed, and how you held me like I mattered to you.”

“You did. You  _ do _ .”

“I never stopped. I thought, I thought I had, you know. I thought I moved on from you, because you were a holiday romance and I hadn’t seen you in years, and how could I love you this much after all of that? But I wake up here, and here you are, even more beautiful than I remember.”

She sat stunned for a moment. There was a call down the hall followed by a shush from one of the nurses to be quiet, people were resting.

“Close the door,” Hunter requested quietly. “Please.”

“Of course.”

She got up and rounded the bed, heading for the door. Half of her wanted to duck out and leave him alone, terrified that he felt as deeply for her as she did for him. The more dominant half of her reached out, and closed the door. She looked over her shoulder at him, and he smiled.

“Come back here,” he said just as quietly. “Please.”

She couldn’t ever deny one of his requests. They’d gotten up to some of the kinkiest stuff she’d ever done together, but his favorite (and hers, though she’d never admit it to him) was letting her give up control and telling her what to do. 

“Jemma,” Hunter said, holding out his hand. “Come here.”

She stepped to his side and he smiled at her as she took his hand.

“I love you, too,” she said before he said anything else. “I have ever since. I don’t know how to explain it to anyone else, but that time we spent together was important to me, and not just because the sex was great, but because  _ you _ were great. You made me so happy.”

“Do you still want that, though? You love me, I love you, but that doesn’t mean you want to be with me.”

Jemma played with his fingers.

“I’m not great at relationships,” she said. 

“I don’t need you to be good at relationships, Jemma. I need to know if you still want me.”

“Yes, of course, I do,” she said. “Of course. All these years, I’ve never wanted anyone like I wanted you.”

“Come here. In the bed, please.”

“You’re hurt, I can’t.”

“Jemma Simmons, I want you in this bed. I want you right up against me. I got hurt, and I need some comfort.”

She looked at his beautiful eyes, the wonderful curve of his lips, the scruff of his beard. He looked so small in the bed, in the hospital gown, and she wanted to run her hands over his shoulders, his arms, feel the curve of his waist, the lines of his hips. 

“Okay.”

She let down the rail on one side of the bed, and climbed in next to him. 

“Isn’t that better?” he asked, slinging an arm over her shoulder. “We can get to know each other all over again.”

“You know you can’t have sex with a major injury like this,” she said.

“I’m sure I can think of a way to get to know you intimately without too much strain,” he said, wiggling his fingers at her. She laughed. 

“I’m sure you can,” she agreed. “You were so good at that before.”

“And now, I’m even better. At so many things.”

“And the other stuff, outside of the bedroom?”

“We’ll figure that out, too. Together.”


End file.
